The function of augmented reality (AR) is known in which a reference object such as an AR marker is used, and the reference object is placed within the finder screen of a camera, and virtual contents according to the reference object are thereby displayed with superimposed on a display under the real environment.
When multiple contents are displayed for one AR marker superimposed on a display under the real environment, the data volume increases, as the number of contents increases. For this reason, when processing of superimposing the multiple contents on a display under the real environment is performed on the side of a server and the multiple contents are displayed on the side of a display device, a low communication speed causes a delay between the display under the real environment in a screen on the display device side, and the display of the multiple contents to be superimposed.
To cope with this, multiple contents associated with an AR marker may be downloaded beforehand in the display device so that communication delay does not occur. However, in this case, processing of superimposing the multiple contents has to be performed on the display device side, and thus the power consumption may increase.
Also, when multiple contents are displayed superimposed on a display under the real environment, depending on the amount of information of a content, the content may lie off the screen of the display device, and part of the information on the content is missing, and it is difficult to view the content. When a content is displayed in a reduced size to avoid missing of content information, displayed details of the content are difficult to view.
Thus, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2014-215646 discloses a method in which multiple scenarios each including a combination of contents to be desirably viewed are separately prepared, and a content to be desirably displayed is switched by a combination of a reference object and a scenario because displaying all of multiple contents for a reference object causes a difficult to see configuration. Also, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-5088 discloses a method in which a direction, in which a reference object enters a display area, is detected, and display contents are switched and displayed. Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2014-215646 and 2015-5088.